"His wife has supplied us with the information," answered the judge. "I have here a copy of your own letter to her." "Ass that I was!" muttered Mr. Field under his breath. Aloud he added, "It is easy to make a mistake like that in the backwoods, where every day is alike." "These little mistakes sometimes need to be enquired into," rejoined Judge Simmons. "We shall have to look up this same Benjamin Green and find out what he has to say about it. It is fortunate that we have an independent witness in this case, although it is unusual to have other names besides that of a lawyer subscribed to a similar deed." Mr. Field bit his lip with vexation. "I have over-reached myself there," was the thought which passed rapidly through his mind. "I believed it would make it all the safer if I had those two signatures as well as Caleb’s, but they may prove my undoing. All the same, I don’t think I could have got the old shyster to put his seal to it if their names hadn’t been there, so they served my turn after all." In an injured voice he next addressed the judge. "Surely," he exclaimed, "you can rely on the statement of a Notary Public without having to get proofs of his veracity." "I happen to know that this particular Caleb Denham has just been convicted as an unprincipled and dishonest scoundrel," answered Judge Simmons. "He is now undergoing a well-merited term in jail because of his illicit practices. I would not give a button for his word." "By the way," he added, turning again to the letter before him, "when I saw you last you gave me to understand that it was only a report of Barker’s death which had reached you, but it is mentioned here that you yourself saw him swept away by the river. These statements seem rather conflicting. Was anyone else there at the time?" "No," replied Mr. Field. "We were quite alone when the accident happened." "Are you prepared to swear that you have given a strictly accurate account of the whole incident?" asked the judge, his keen eyes fixed on Mr. Field’s agitated face. "I cannot deny that appearances are very much against you. It is a queer thing that Barker should have disappeared in this mysterious manner just at the very time that you became possessed of his papers. When we questioned Mrs. Power about it this morning, I thought she seemed rather to hesitate when I asked her if she had any reason to doubt the truth of your report." "Mrs. Power!" ejaculated Mr. Field. "Whatever has she got to do with it?" "You are evidently ignorant of the fact that she is Gerald Barker’s widow, she having changed her name on account of some stipulation in a will," replied Judge Simmons. "We traced her by the information given to us by a servant of the old gentleman who left her the money. Finding that she was at present staying in Sunbury, we had an interview with her this morning before we came on to you."